Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Bear Stearns Update

"Joe Lewis bought a 7 per cent stake in Bear Stearns, the investment bank which has lost just over a third of its value after the closure of two of its hedge funds. Mr Lewis is best known in the UK for his stake in Tottenham Hotspur. But the investment by the former restaurateur crystallises the question that is on the minds of bankers everywhere: is it time to start buying? There are clearly investors out there who believe that the anxiety is overdone and that, as a result, assets are undervalued. Lehman Brothers has been busy in recent days putting together a $3 billion distressed debt fund. Goldman Sachs has been working on something similar. Just as the boom underestimated risk in the credit markets, the current crisis seems to overestimate risk"